British woman beheaded in Tenerife made desperate plea for help before attack
Jennifer Mills-Westley, the British woman beheaded in a Tenerife supermarket, tried to avoid her tormentor by taking refuge in an office doorway.
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By Fiona Govan, Los Cristianos, Tenerife and David Barrett 8:30AM BST 15 May 2011
The retired 60-year-old from Norwich was stabbed to death and beheaded in the horrific attack on Friday.
Jennifer Mills-Westley, the British woman who was beheaded in Tenerife.
She alerted a security guard in the social security office that she had been subjected to "threatening behaviour" from an unwashed vagrant.
Her tormentor, a 28-year-old homeless man called Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, was well known in the popular holiday resort for his unpredictable and sometimes violent behaviour.
Mrs Mills-Westley waited for him to move on, and alerted a security guard in the social security office where she sheltered that she had been subjected to "threatening behaviour".
It is unclear whether the Briton, a 60-year-old retired road safety officer from Norwich, was aware of the man's dangerous reputation. After a few minutes Deyanov left and the danger seemed to have passed.
At about 10.15 on Friday morning Mrs Mills-Westley left the office doorway and walked to a Chinese-run discount store next door. Tragically, she there encountered Deyanov again and he attacked her, with grisly consequences.
Mrs Mills-Westley, who divided her time between Tenerife, Norfolk and France, was hacked to death by the Bulgarian, who reportedly claimed to be "a prophet of God" as he carried out the frenzied attack.
Relatives of Mrs Mills-Westley, a grandmother of five, arrived on the island yesterday as details of the gruesome attack emerged.
Deyanov, had left a psychiatric unit where he was reportedly being treated for paranoid schizophrenia in February. He was known among locals for his aggressive begging and outbursts of violence and had been picked up several times by police.
At the Port Royale complex of apartments where Mrs Mills-Westley had been a resident for at least 10 years, neighbours expressed shock and concern at the way the case of the dangerous assailant had been handled by the Spanish authorities.
A long-time friend and neighbour of Mrs Mills-Westley who was too upset to give her name said: "It's shocking the man that did this had been let out of hospital. It shouldn't have to be that you wait for something like this to happen before he gets locked away. He was obviously a danger."
She added: "This is just awful. It's too upsetting for words. I've known Jenny for more than 10 years, since she first moved out here.
"She was a lovely, bubbly person who appeared much younger than she was. She was back and forth to the UK and France to see her children and grandchildren."
Mrs Mills-Westley owned two adjacent apartments in the development set on a peaceful hillside at the edge of Los Cristianos. She rented out one two-bedroom apartment and lived in the other. Similar properties are on the market for about £240,000.
Phil Gibbs, the owner of Premier management services at the complex, said: "She was a very nice lady. She wasn't the kind of expat who spent a lot of time in bars. She was quiet and peaceful and always immaculately dressed. We are all horrified to hear what happened to her."
The victim's daughter, Sarah Mears, 41, from Newton St Faith, near Norwich, released a statement describing her mother as "generous of heart".
"Mum was fully enjoying her retirement travelling between Tenerife and France where she spent time visiting her daughter and grandchildren, and her other daughter in Norfolk," she said.
"She was full of life, generous of heart, would do anything for anyone. We now have to find a way of living without her love and light."
Before her retirement Mrs Mills-Westley gave cycling safety training to schoolchildren in Norfolk, and also worked on other road safety projects.
In Los Cristianos, at the southern tip of the Canary Islands, eyewitnesses described the scene of the crime as "something out of a horror movie".
Colin Kirby, a British expatriate working at the Tenerife Magazine said: "I thought someone had fainted and walked on, then I heard screaming and looked behind and saw a scruffy, unkempt man in his mid 20s holding a head by the hair.
"It had blood on it and I thought at first it was a sick joke stunt. The man was muttering and shouting and more people started screaming as I quickened my pace."
Another witness told how he saw the man drop a bloodstained woman's head on the pavement after coming out of the shop.
"I saw this man running out with something bloody in his hands," the witness said. "It was a head. He had it in his hands. It was like a horror movie. The security guards chased him and overpowered him."
Authorities said they were not aware of any reason why Mrs Mills-Westley had apparently been targeted. Manuel Reveron, a local councillor, said: "Apparently this gentleman without any motive or any reason, although for this there is no reasoning, entered the shop and then cut this woman's neck and took the head in his hand outside up to the sidewalk."
Dominica Fernandez, a government official, said the suspect had "chosen his victim by chance". Deyanov was known to be sleeping rough in the streets and in an abandoned house in the resort.
Last night at the filthy location, there was still a Bible and a shrine made out of breeze blocks among scattered possessions. Deyanov was being held at the police station in nearby resort of Playa de Las Americas.
He is scheduled to appear before an investigating judge on Monday.
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